Dwelling In Her Misery
by PorcelainDoll304
Summary: Gaz tells Zim the sad story of how her mother left her, and Zim is overwhelmed with pity for her. Maybe a little too much. Rated T because it's IZ, and sad. ZAGR, slight DAZR.


**AN: Okay, I drew a picture of Dib, Gaz, and Zim sitting around a Christmas tree on Christmas Eve, and I couldn't resist to write this little thing.**

**Dib/Zim friendship**

**Zim/Gaz relationship**

**GIR/everyone friendship (who doesn't love GIR?)**

**Dib/Zita relationship**

**Oh yes, and the only thing I own is a copy of the Season One IZ DVD.**

Christmas is a time of giving and receiving, a time of joy, of fresh cookies, hot chocolate…and families…so it's obvious that Gaz would hate it.

Yeah, she liked getting the new Game Slave Extreme Dib had gotten her, and the look on Dib's face when she handed him a well-wrapped gift (she'd never gotten him anything before), but why did there have to be _joy? _Why did there have to be _families? _Gaz didn't feel joy. It was like the little part of her brain that felt joy had decomposed in her early stages of life. Gaz's mother had walked out on them when she was six because her father was a workaholic. Notice that she didn't say she _thought _her father was a workaholic. Professor Membrane _was _a workaholic. He paid almost no attention to his children, (calling her Liz and her brother Nub), and often forgot important dates like their birthdays and Christmas (after he'd given up on destroying Santa). Gaz sat on her bed, thinking about this. She traced the little sewing lines on her bedspread and eventually lay there, face buried in her pillow. It was Christmas, a time for joy, and she was miserable. It was Christmas, a time for families, and she was alone. It was Christmas, a time of fresh cookies and hot chocolate, and she was eating week-old pizza and flat soda. It was Christmas, a time of giving and receiving and she couldn't give love because she had never been loved. She didn't know how. Gaz Membrane didn't know how to love.

The doorbell rang, and after a few minutes of waiting for Dib to get it, she realized that he wasn't around and she'd have to answer it herself. She took the piece of almost frozen pizza with her to answer the door. She opened it and found Zim in his Skool Boy disguise and GIR in his dog suit and on a leash.

"Hey," Gaz stated blandly. Zim and Dib had been friends for quite a while, but he had never wanted anything to do with her.

"Hello, Gazzy! I love you!" GIR squealed, hugging her around the legs. Gaz laughed a little, patting him on the head.

"Hi, GIR," she smiled at the little green-suited robot. She and GIR had been spending a lot of time together since Zim and Dib had abandoned them for one another.

"It's Christmas!" GIR announced.

"Yes, that it is," Gaz muttered, staring at the red sky.

"You are upset," Zim noted.

"A little…" Gaz replied, barely thinking.

"Why?" Zim asked.

"I dunno…wanna take a walk?" Gaz asked.

"I am actually here to see Dib," Zim announced.

"He's not here. He's at a Swollen Eyeball meeting," she explained.

"Ah. Well, in that case, I'd be delighted to take part in this _walk," _Zim proclaimed.

"All right, I'll go grab a jacket…and maybe some clothes…" Gaz announced upon realizing that she was still in the black pants and violet camisole that she slept in.

"I shall wait while sitting upon that sofa," Zim replied.

"I'm gonna roll around the floor for a little bit, k?" GIR queried.

"Sure," Gaz grinned at GIR as Zim unclipped the leash. Gaz heard the sound of GIR scooting along the carpeting as she ascended the stairs and entered her room. She slid into a pair of light blue jeans and pulled on a black Green Day t-shirt over her camisole. She grabbed a pair of black combat boots. She pulled her violet hair into a sloppy ponytail and ran into Dib's room to find a jacket. She almost took his black leather Swollen Eyeball insignia jacket, but thought better of it and chose the black trench coat that he had outgrown. She ran down the stairs and found GIR still rolling all over the floor.

"Gazzy! You come back!" GIR exclaimed. Zim looked up from the 'JTHM' comic he had been reading. He had found it on the table next to the sofa. Gaz was a 'JTHM' fan, and had all of the issues as well as a few 'Squee!' and one 'I Feel Sick'.

"Hey, you ready to go?" Gaz queried.

"Yes," Zim announced.

"Aw, do I have to wear the snake-thing?" GIR asked.

"Yes! I have been informed of this _law _that all dogs must wear these leashes, and since you are disguised as a dog, you must wear one!" Zim yelled.

"But I'm a mongoose-dog," GIR announced.

"A mongoose-dog is still a dog," Zim reminded him, "and dogs must wear leashes! There will be consequences if you do not wear it!"

"I don't like the snake-thing," GIR told Gaz as Zim clipped it on him.

"I know," Gaz smiled at him and patted him on the head. The three of them left Gaz's house and started walking.  
"Look, a tree! Look, another tree! Look, a bush! Look, another bush!" GIR pointed things out rather loudly.

"GIR! You must be quiet! Do you wish to blow our cover?" Zim hissed.

"I do!" GIR told Zim.

"Even though our quest to conquer the Earth has been exposed as a fraud, we still must blend in with the humans," Zim reminded him.

"Aw," GIR whimpered. As Zim and GIR argued, Gaz surveyed the decorations. It was a green Christmas, and the fake snowmen and bright strings of lights looked severely out of place, as if this whole scene was in an obvious 'What's wrong with this picture' book.

"This is the anniversary of the day my mom left," Gaz whispered.

"Your parental unit?" Zim queried, tugging on GIR's leash.

"Yeah…" Gaz whispered.

"Tell me about it," Zim begged.

"Yay!" GIR squealed, chasing after a squirrel. Gaz sighed and nodded.

_Flashback – Six Years Ago_

Gaz and Dib sat on the floor, playing with their new toys.

"Mommy, can I have some eggnog now?" Gaz queried, but their mom was on the phone. Gaz stood up and walked over to her.

"I'm sick of you, Membrane! Working on Christmas day!" their mom yelled. Gaz took a few steps back, horrified. She had never, ever heard her mom yell before.

"Well you won't have a chance to leave me alone with these _children _ever again! I'm leaving, for good! I'm gonna hop on a train and ride for as long as you've been gone!" her mom slammed the phone down.

"We're going on vacation?" Gaz asked. "Is that why we're riding the train?"

"No, honey, you can't come with me," her mom replied.

"Is Dib gonna go?" Gaz queried.

"No," her mom sighed.

"Is Daddy going?" Gaz ran over to her mom. "Is Morgan gonna baby-sit?"

"No, honey, I'm going away and you won't see me ever again," she replied.

"Why? Where are you going?" Gaz's lower lip quivered.

"I'm going far away, somewhere where your father can't find me," her mom told her. She knelt down and placed her hands on Gaz's shoulders.

"I love you," her mother said.

"I love you, too, Mommy," Gaz hugged her mom tightly. Dib walked out.

"What's going on?" Dib asked.

"I'm going far away and I'm never coming back," her mom said.

"Never?" Dib's eyes grew huge behind his glasses with the lenses that seemed bigger than his whole head.

"No, never," their mom said, and hugged Dib.

"Dib, you're the oldest. I need you to take good care of your sister for me, because Lord knows your father won't. Can you do that for me, Dib?" their mom asked.

"But I…" Dib seemed at loss for words.

"Can you take care of Gaz while I'm gone?" their mom asked.

"You mean forever?" Dib asked.

"Yes, forever," their mom nodded. Gaz remembered being very afraid at that point, suddenly realizing what was going on.

"I'll take good care of Gaz for you, Mom," Dib nodded.

"I love you," their mom said, giving each of them a kiss on the top of the head.

"I love you, too," they chimed in unison. Then their mom walked out the door carrying nothing but her purse and drove the car away.

"Mom just left forever," Dib told Gaz.

"Yeah, I know," Gaz said. The two of them started crying, and it seemed like they hadn't stopped crying since then.

_End Flashback _

"That's sad," Zim told her. Gaz nodded, fighting back tears. She couldn't bear to let Zim see her cry.

"Gazzy sad," GIR noticed, and his little eyes filled up with tears and he began to cry. He jumped on Gaz and hugged her around the neck.

"Gazzy being sad makes me sad too!" he announced, crying very hard. Zim stared at the toes of his black boots. He felt terrible for the Membrane children. He recalled all of the mean things he'd done to them and felt absolutely awful.

"You want to go get a soda or something?" Gaz asked after GIR's sobs had ceased.

"Sure," Zim said, forcing a smile. They went and got some sodas at Mac Meaty's and drank them in the park while GIR chased squirrels.

"I'm sorry!" Zim suddenly yelped, causing Gaz to jump in surprise, spilling some of her soda on her boots.

"For what?" Gaz queried, raising an eyebrow at him as she shook her feet to get the soda off.

"For all of the bad things I've ever said to you or done to you," Zim replied. "You don't deserve that. You don't deserve any of that. You've been through way too much. You don't deserve that," Zim began rocking back and forth as though going through a point of insanity.

"Um, Zim? People are staring at us," Gaz pointed out, and when Zim opened his eyes he could see that everyone in the park had stopped what they were doing and were staring at them.

"Um…yeah…" Zim nodded as he looked around, "that they are…"

"Let's get outta here!" GIR yelled, and the three of them ran away. Everyone just stared at the place that they had been for a few more seconds, muttered amongst themselves, and went back to what they'd been doing. They went back to Gaz's house and listened to music for a while before Zim decided it was time to leave.

"Aw, can't we stay for a little longer?" GIR begged.

"It's really time to go," Zim replied with some lingering doubt of this.

"Gazzy, tell him it's _not!" _GIR begged, tugging at the cuffs of Gaz's jeans.

"C'mon, GIR, you've been here for almost two hours," Gaz reminded him.

"Oh, okay!" GIR giggled as he ran over to Zim.

"I'm…I'm really sorry about your parental unit," Zim told her as he clipped the leash on GIR's collar.

"Oh man, not the snake thing!" GIR was yelling, but neither of them really heard him. Gaz nodded.

"It's okay. I didn't tell you to win sympathy," Gaz remarked.

"I know…" Zim's voice sounded higher, squeakier. Out of nowhere, he ran over to Gaz and grabbed her by the shoulders.

"Zim, what are you…" him pressing his lips against hers cut her off.

"Aw, just like on TV!" GIR announced.

"Y-yeah…" Gaz was shaking all over when he finally backed off. He was shaking even harder.

"I-I'm sorry, I don't know what came over me…" Zim blushed.

"Love!" GIR supplied. Gaz was nervously tracing the carpeting with her toe. She suddenly ran at him and pressed her lips against his. He snaked his arms around her waist and she placed her hands on his shoulders.

"What is going on here?" a voice behind them yelled, and it wasn't GIR, either.

"Dib!" Gaz exclaimed, eyes wide.

"Y-you, and Z-Zim…you jerk!" Dib exclaimed, eye twitching.

"But Dib…" Gaz stared at him. Zim was cowering, ready to be punched by one of them.

"It's just like on TV!" GIR exclaimed, sitting on the couch eating taco-flavored popcorn.

"I can't believe it! My best friend and baby sister…and…" Dib looked ready to pass out.

"Wait a minute…" Gaz walked over to him and found a lavender hair on his black trench coat.

"Is this…Zita's?" she narrowed her eyes and stared at him.

"M-maybe…" Dib ran a hand nervously through his black hair. "All right, I have girlfriend, okay?"

"I'm not mad if you're not," Gaz said teasingly.

"Agreed," Dib smiled. "I'm going to my room to IM Zita,"

"Cool. I'll stay down here and make out with Zim some more," Gaz said.

"I'm gonna watch the Scary Monkey Show!" GIR announced.

**AN: Good? Bad? Indifferent? I MUST KNOW! Please?**


End file.
